Datasette 1.0a33 extends opt-in JSON extras API to row and query endpoints
Simon Willison has released Datasette 1.0a33, pushing the project closer to a stable 1.0 by extending the ?_extra= query-parameter mechanism — previously limited to table pages — to row and arbitrary SQL query pages as well. The change lets API clients request only the JSON keys they actually need (facet results, row counts, foreign-key metadata, etc.), avoiding the over-fetching that plagued the 0.x API and reducing unnecessary SQL round-trips.
Willison noted that most of the code in this release was written with the help of Claude. The release also ships auto-generated reference documentation for every available extra, with example output captured live at build time from a running Datasette instance — a workflow detail that signals how tightly AI-assisted coding is now woven into mature open-source maintenance cycles.
Sources
- Primary source
- Simon Willison on Bluesky
“New Datasette release: 1.0a33, which finally brings documents the ?_extra= JSON API mechanism and brings it to the row and query pages in addition to the table pages (Most of the code in this release was built with the help of Claude Fable 5)”